In a move that could have ripple effects across the local marketing community, DexYP is partnering with the social media management vendor SOCi to bring enterprise social media management to the small and mid-size business market. The deal was announced this morning.

If DexYP sounds unfamiliar, that’s because the company itself was born just last year. DexYP is the print and digital marketing agency that was created when Dex Media acquired YP Holdings for a reported $600 million in June of 2017.

Today’s new partnership announcement means big things for both firms, but particularly for the San Diego-based SOCi, given DexYP’s position as one of the largest national providers of small business automation software. DexYP currently works with more than half a million SMB clients across the United States, providing local businesses with digital tools and management software.

With this new partnership in place, both companies believe they will be able to offer business owners with smaller operations the type of best-in-class solutions that are typically reserved for larger enterprise organizations.

According to SOCi Chief Revenue Officer Warren Kay, DexYP and SOCi spent a year and a half exploring a partnership before ultimately coming together in the deal that was announced this morning.

“The deal negotiations were efficient and very straightforward, as both parties understood the opportunity and our respective roles [and] opportunity,” Kay says.

An in-house solution was developed to launch DexYP’s social offering and test market demand before today’s formal release, explains Kay.

“After over a year in market, [DexYP] identified social as a strategic priority and realized they needed a more scalable solution,” Kay says. “They did a significant amount of market research and diligence.”

Although DexYP’s research showed that many SMBs have trouble finding easy-to-use tools to manage their social media accounts and online reputations, the company also found that SMB service providers are struggling to offer solutions that can match the power of large-volume social media management platforms. Cost has been one of the biggest factors in this struggle, with most small business owners unable to afford the type of enterprise-grade platforms that offer integrated reporting and cross-channel optimization.

Today’s new deal with SOCi aims to change that. By integrating SOCi into its existing suite of services, DexYP is aiming to handle all of its clients’ digital marketing needs. Not only will that help the company better serve its clients, but it will also help DexYP differentiate itself in the crowded local marketing space.

“SMBs need social,” Kay says. “Engaging with their local community is a strategic benefit for an SMB. They are small business owners that are typically part of the community they serve. Social is a phenomenal platform for SMBs to engage their local community.”

For SOCi, the partnership is a testament to the company’s ability to scale its technology, enable digital migration, and deliver a social media management solution to end users around the country.

“As DexYP is a market maker in the SMB market, they are able to bring an industry-leading solution to a significant percentage of the SMB market,” Kay says. “DexYP is on a very successful trajectory, [and] SOCi helps accelerate their growth and success.”